Process for producing reactions in gases at high temperatures and apparatus for practising the same.



L. L. SUMMERS.

PROCESS FOR PRODUCING REACTIONS IN GASES AT HIGH TEMPERATURES AND APPARATUS FOR PRAGTISING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 14, 1913- 1, 125,208, Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE.

LELAfin L. snMMEns, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

'Iiioonss non Inonucmo REAcTIorrs. IN eAsn s A'I.; HIG I TEMPERATURES Ann APPARATUS ron, rIcAcTI'sme THE SAME.

7 Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

Application filed June 14, 1913. Serial mi. 773,594.

To aZZ whom it concern: Be it known that I, LELAND L. SnMMnRs, a citizen of. the United States, residing at Chicago, in the 'county of Cook and State of Illmois have invented a new and useful 1 Improvement, in Processes for Producing Reactions in1tases at High Temperatures and Apparatus for Practising the Same, of

I which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more particularly to the synthesis of gaseous compounds requirmg a very intense degree of heat and in the following specification is described more specifically with reference to compounds .of nitrogen such as oxids (NO, N0 etc.) ammonia (NI-I hydrocyanic acid (HGN) cyanid of ammonia NI-LCN) etc. ,but the specific thereof.

. far as'itisnow known to me wlthout, however; relinquishing or abandoning. any part The diiiiculty in effecting the'synthesis of the gases with which my invention has to. do arises, as it isgenerally'a g'reed, from thejlfact that. one of the gases, to wit, the

- nitrogen is inert, or, in other terms the molecular bonds between the atoms of the gas I are strong and have to be weakened or destroyed before the gas will enter into combination with any. other element. For this reason the electric arc. has been long resorted to as a means for raising the temperature of the gases to the point atwhich the-bonds areweakened or severed to permit new combinations to be formed. Unfortunately, howeve the '.range of tem er tures. offsyntliesis' of the gases substantially corresponds to that of. the dissociation of the formedcompounds so that in..a.ny process of this character the two reactionsare tak 'iIig place simultaneously and if the heat is maintained for a. sufficient period ec'fiiilibiium is established, that is, to say, the

reactions in the two directions become equal ariflthe proportion of uncoinbined gases and comp becomes s ilhis'tantiallyuni forim,

varying with the temperature. If, however, the heating is discontinued and th e gases permitted to 'cool before they reach temperatures at which reaction ceases, they pass through certain intermediate temperatures at which equilibrium between the com ponents and compounds involves a much ,smaller proportion of the compound than at the higher temperatures. It is, therefore,

desirable to cool the gases resultant from the reaction as rapidly as possible through these intermediate temperatures in order to avoid reduction in the percentages of the compounds. It is further to benoted, that in most of the high temperature synthesis processes one of the gases only is inert and requires a high degree of heat to overcome its molecular bond. Nitrogen which is'a usual component of; the compounds formed by processes of this character is peculiarly inert while the other gases with which it is tobe united are comparatively active requiring little or no heating to prepare them for combination. In the practice of my improved process the more inert gas, (in the specific illustration nitrogen) 1s subjected to a prolonged heating in the arc and when at its maximum temperature is brought into intimate mixture wit themore active gas or gases the mixture remaining for an instant only in the heat of the arc and then being immediately removed to a point where it-is at a substantially lower temperature.v

.In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated two forms of arc furnace in which theprocess can be carried out, Figure 1 illustrating one form-in vertical section and Fig. 2 the. other form in similar view.

Turning first to Fig. 1 the furnace is shown ,as comprising a shell A of iron or other'similarmetal having a lining B of' firebrick; or fire clay, the general shape of the furnacebeing cylindrical but tapered at one end. The are is strucklengthwise of the furnace from an electrode .0 at the bottom thereof to an electrode D. at the top, both of which electrodesimay, if desired, be watercooled, though but one is so shown. The lower electrode comprises a tube through which the mere inert-gas may be fed and a is. employed only for drawing the arc, it upwardly intofproxnmty of longtudinallyadj ustable electrode E which.

i the shown in Fig.

,within the furnace to the rounding the first named tube but separated" therefrom by a water space J and constituting'an outlet for the furnace connected tothe exhaust pipe L. The tubes H are also completely surrounded by the jacket M, and conductors .it'or leading the current to the electrodes are illustrated diagrammatically at N and 0. Either direct or alternating current may be used for the heating. efiect and for the former it is for most purposes immaterial in which ,direction is the flow.

Before describing the operation of the furnace I will describe the modified form since the operation of the two is substantially identical. Turning now to Fig. 2 it will be seen that the body of the furnace and the electrode are substantially as in Fig. 1 but no rte-agent is supplied through the upper electrode which acts as a passage only for the products o f the reaction withdrawn from the furnace jithrough the series of pipes L which are cegled by thewater jacket M. The more activegas re-agent is supplied through the chamber P which a series of upwardly directed openings Q lead to the neighborhood of the upper electrode. These openings may be placed more or less close to the electrode according to the length of time to which it 1s purposed subjecting the more'active reagent. The current is fed to the furnace at N" O" substantially as described in connection with the earlier described form of furnace. I

' In using my. processoand furnace an arc is first 'drawn in the manner described and more inert gas fed' in at the lower electrode, ata speedwhich is dependent u on the length of time it is desired to sub ect each particle of the gas to the arc. The more active re-agent is fed in at G, in case the modification .of Fig. 1' in case the modification and the resultant mixture through In the form is used, or at Q, of Fig. 2 is' used, of gases immediately withdrawn the water-cooled electrode.

1 the mixture, in case no considerable pressure were used would be exposed to the heat, of the are only during the time that its more active component could pass from the end of, the ;tube G nag of the Out-.- let tubes H. In the form of furnace shown in Fig. 2 the mixture would besubjected a considerably longer period "y reason of the greater distance of the orifices or passages:

from

heat" of the 7 Q from the inner end of the water-cooled exhaust. The reduction" of temperature within the water cooled electrode to a degree below the reaction 7 temperatures is almost instantaneous and therefore but little time is aiforded for the compounds increasing the number of outlet pipes. or

openings and diminishing their cross-sectional area or using some more active cooling agent than Water suchlas one of the well known refrigerants. I have found in ac-' tual practice that so quickly arethe products of the reaction taken from thd temperature of the arc furnace through the ranges of temperature at which they are subject to association that some of the most readily dissociated compounds may be obtained in my furnace in considerable quantities of which substances I may name ammonia as one. The products of the reaction of course depend upon the reacting gases which are fed to the furnace. In case oxygen and nitrogen are the gases treated the products will bQ'lllle oxids of nitrogen and in case "hydrogen and nitrogen be subjected to the treatment ammonia will be formed, the nitrogen being the more inert gas in either case. I have found, however, that my process and apparatus is unusually well adapted for the treatment of nitrogen and the mixed asesresultin from retort coke processes w ich when su j'ected tothe fur-2 .nace treatment together with nitrogen'yield a number of valuable products amon the most important of which may be mentioned" cyanogen and cyanid of ammonia. I ever, as stated above these suggested reactions are only a few of many which will occur to those skilled in the art. 1

I claim: a 1. A process for the synthesis of compounds at high temperatures comprising heating the more inert component in the electric arc, mixing the same with the more active component and immediately" wlthdrawjiilg the resultant gases to a cooled'zone.

2. chamber,.a pair of electrodesarranged respectively at opposite ends of said chamber, means for supplyin a more inert gas at one end of the cham er and means for supend of the chamber and withdrawing the same. v f

3. In an electric furnace, a furnace chamber, electrodes arranged at the opposite ends thereof,'means for end of-the chamber, means for introducin a gas at the other end'of the chamber, and

an electric furnace, a refractory.

How-

plying a more active re-agent at the otherfl' introducing a gw t isc for introducing a gas at one end of the chamber, means for'introducing a gas at the other end of the chamber and a cooled electrode located at the last named end and provided with passages for the products of the reaction.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, a furnace chamber, electrodes at opposite ends thereof, means for supplying an inert gas to said chamber, means for supplying an active gas near one of the electrodes and outlet passages near the last named electrode for the products of reaction.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, a furnace chamber, a pair of electrodes, one of said electrodes being provided with passages for the products of the reaction, means for supplying an inert gas to said chamber at a point remote from the outlet passages and means for supplying an active gas at a point adjacent the outlet passages.

7. In a device of the class described, a furnace chamber, a pair of electrodes therein,

passages for the escape of products of the one of which is cooled and provided with reaction and means for supplying an inert gas at a point remote from said outlet and for supplying an active gas at a point adjacent the outlet.

8. In a device of the class described, a chamber, a pair of electrodes. therein, one of which is cooled and provided with an inlet for gas and an outlet for products of the reaction and means for supplying a comparatively inert gas at a point remote from the last said electrode.

LELAND L. SUMMERS. 

